Homemade Valentine’s Day Dog Treats – Easy, Healthy & Fun

Making homemade dog treats is something I’ve wanted to start doing more of this year. Actually, it’s on my list of New Year’s resolutions to start cooking more in general. For both my husband, Kyle, and my beloved Labrador Retriever, Toby.

I must admit, I’m not a very patient chef. I get antsy if anything takes too long. So when figuring out a recipe for dog treats, my goal was to put together something that’s quick, easy and straightforward.

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and that provided wonderful inspiration for the theme of the batch of treats I whipped up this weekend.

This recipe uses only four ingredients: flour, eggs, peanut butter and canned beets. Aside from the canned beets, I bet you have all the ingredients in your cupboard already.

You might ask, why beets? It’s simple: the coloring. The juice in the can gives the treats a nice pink hue, and the chopped-up beets add flecks of red, creating a festive look for the February holiday.

Beets have the ability to add intense coloring, which is why you should handle them with care. A little extra caution will go a long way to keeping your kitchen clean. Make sure the juice doesn’t splash when you add it to the mixing bowl and that you mix things slowly at first until the juice is incorporated.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup peanut butter

14 oz can of beets

2 large eggs

Instructions

To get started, open up the can of beets and empty the juice into a separate cup. Place the canned beets on a plate and dice them up into smaller chunks.

From there, place both the diced beets and juice along with the two eggs into a mixing bowl. Mix until smooth.

Add in the 1/2 cup of peanut butter and mix until everything is incorporated.

Next, slowly add in a bit of flour at a time until everything is mixed together.

Once this is done, I’d recommend putting the dough in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes to firm it up a bit.

Now it’s time to knead the dough. I have itty bitty hands so I took smaller sections and worked them for a few minutes each individually. Go ahead and knead the whole thing if you can. Also worth noting, I sprinkled on a generous amount of flour to help with the process.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees to get it warmed up while you’re working.

Next, take small sections of the dough and roll out into 1/4 inch sheets.

On the side, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and have that ready to go.

Going back to the dough, now it’s time for the fun part: cutting out the treats! Use a Valentine’s Day cookie cutter to cut into fun shapes.

Place the cut-out treats onto the cookie sheet and pop into the oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes or so. (You want to make sure the treats rise and get a tiny bit of crisp to the edges.)